Three arrested in Poland after far-right celebration of Hitler’s birthday
Suspects charged with propagating fascism after TV report on group
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Three people have been arrested and charged with propagating fascism after a news program revealed details about a neo-Nazi group in Poland that celebrated Adolf Hitler, Polish media reported Tuesday.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also said Tuesday that the state would not tolerate any use of totalitarian symbols and that he wants to see the neo-Nazi group banned.
The private news channel TVN24 broadcast an expose Saturday about “Pride and Modernity,” a neo-Nazi group whose members dressed in Nazi uniform to celebrate Hitler last spring on what would have been the German dictator’s 128th birthday.
Kim są członkowie "Dumy i Nowoczesności"?
Wstrząsające efekty dziennikarskiego śledztwa DZIŚ w @SUPERWIZJER_TVN na antenie @tvn24 o godzinie 20:00.Reportaż Bertolda Kittla, Anny Sobolewskiej i Piotra Wacowskiego.
➡️ https://t.co/QliVdG0Uua pic.twitter.com/3V3NJcaggE— tvn24 (@tvn24) January 20, 2018
Poland was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II and the existence of the pro-Hitler group has sparked shock and revulsion.
Leslaw Piszewski, president of the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland, called out Polish authorities on Facebook in responding to the documentary.
“What else has to happen for us to look open our eyes, the authorities say that fascism and nazism are not tolerated in Poland,” he wrote. “I want to believe in these words, but let authorities do their job.”
Attorney General Zbigniew Ziobro vowed to act tough on the group and individuals pictured, who broke the law by displaying Nazi symbols.
“After Nazi Germany attacked, millions of people were murdered in occupied Poland, including three million Poles,” Ziobro wrote.
It is estimated that the Germans killed at least 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians during World War II, according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. In addition, the Germans murdered at least 3 million Jewish citizens of Poland.
In Poland, the term “Poles” is often used in the media and by officials to designate non-Jewish Polish citizens, whereas Jewish ones are referred to as “Jews.”
If someone “honors Adolf Hitler, who is one of the greatest criminals in history, he deserves to be treated to the full extent of the law,” Ziobro told the PAP news agency. “In such situations, the prosecutor’s office will always be firm.”
World Jewish Congress CEO Robert Singer in a statement welcomed the Polish government’s “swift condemnation of fascist activities.” But, he added, “Anti-Semitism and xenophobia are rising at an alarming rate in Poland, rearing their ugly heads beyond the fringes of society and into the mainstream.
“Sadly,” he added, “this was hardly an isolated incident and must not be treated as such.”
In November, during a nationalist rally on Poland’s Independence Day in Warsaw, some participants carried anti-Muslim banners and chanted anti-Semitic slogans. A total of 60,000 people attended.
Piszewski’s Union of Jewish Communities in Poland has appealed to Polish politicians for help against what his organization has called a rise in far-right activities under the right-wing Law and Justice party. Piszewski said this is creating a security threat for members of the community.
But other Jewish community organizations, including the TSKZ cultural group, are disputing the assertion. They have accused Piszewski of exaggerating the problem in Poland as part of a “political battle” with the government, as TSKZ President Artur Hoffman termed it last year.
The Times of Israel Community.